As supporters of Hillary Clinton prepared for victory celebrations last night the question being whispered loudly among the American political classes was whether she would be seeking to return to the White House, this time as president in 2004.

When she was asked if her campaign to represent New York state was a prelude to a presidential race in four years' time, Ms Clinton denied it, laughed it off and then changed the subject.

But the speculation persists.

"I don't know if she'll run for president," said the veteran New York commentator John Hess. "The whole thing seems so preposterous I can hardly believe it. But then the two who ran this time are so preposterous - who would believe these two clowns would presume to be emperor of the free world?"

Sceptics who cannot believe that Ms Clinton would settle for a seat in the Senate say that her sights are clearly on bigger things. Dick Morris, who advised Bill Clinton in his successful 1996 campaign and who now spends much of his time as a Clinton baiter, said yesterday: "She runs for the Senate for only one reason: she wants to be president. From the beginning the subtext of the Clinton political operation was clear - she will follow him, just as the Kennedy brothers were to follow one another in order of seniority."

As the outcome of the presidential race still looked far from clear last night, there was even speculation that a Bush win this time could set the stage for an extraordinary Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton succession: George Bush Sr (1988-1992), Bill Clinton (1992-2000), George W Bush (2000-2004), Hillary Clinton (2004-).

For Mr Clinton, yesterday's events were bitter-sweet: as he exited stage left his wife looked set to enter stage right. He professed to be happy after casting his vote for his wife and Mr Gore. "I've had a great life and I've been very lucky," he said. He jested that he could not be dismissed as a lame-duck president until the formal handover of power in January. "I'll just keep quacking. I've got another 10 weeks to quack."